Door apparatus

ABSTRACT

A door apparatus includes a door having a hole and configured to be slidable with respect to a vehicle body, a member configured to open and close the hole, a first detector configured to detect a position of the member relative to the hole to determine an openness of the hole, a second detector configured to detect a position of the door relative to the body, and a unit configured to be activated to project from one to another of the body and the door, so as to abut on the another such that the door is stopped from sliding in an opening direction, when the openness is greater than a threshold, and the position is between a full-closed position and a midway position.

This is a divisional of application Ser. No. 10/817,930 filed Apr. 6,2004. The entire disclosure of the prior application, application Ser.No. 10/817,930 is considered part of the disclosure of the accompanyingdivisional application and is hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1) Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a door apparatus.

2) Description of the Related Art

Some vehicles like vans (“one-box” cars) have sliding doors on a side oftheir bodies, the side parallel to a direction in which the vehiclestravel. Such a sliding door usually has a window hole, which can beshut/opened by a window glass capable of freely moving up/down.

In such a vehicle, a full open latch unit and a full closure latch unitare provided between the vehicle body and the sliding door. The fullopen latch unit is configured to keep the sliding door at a full-openposition relative to the vehicle body and the full closure latch unit isconfigured to keep the sliding door at a full-closed position relativeto the vehicle body. Therefore, when the sliding door is at thefull-closed position, for example, the sliding door will not slideinadvertently in an opening direction to which the sliding door isopened even if the vehicle body is inclined. Likewise, when the slidingdoor is at the full-open position, the sliding door will not slideinadvertently in a closing direction to which the sliding door is closedeven if the vehicle body is inclined.

If the sliding door is slid in the opening direction with the windowglass forgotten to be closed while a foreign object is inserted in thewindow hole, the foreign object may be caught between a window frame ofthe window hole and a pillar of the vehicle body. Consequently, damagesto both the foreign object and the vehicle body may be caused.

Therefore, a middle stopper mechanism, which stops the sliding door at aposition before the full-open position if an openness of the window holeor a degree to which the window hole is opened is greater than apredetermined threshold, even when the sliding door is slid in the dooropening direction, may be provided to avoid the above problems, asdisclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-173296 andJapanese Patent No. 3263805.

The middle stopper mechanism includes a middle striker provided at thevehicle body and a stopper member called a “pole” provided at thesliding door so as to be able to swing. When the openness of the windowhole is equal to or less than the threshold, the stopper member isengaged with a hook member so as to be kept at a retracted positionagainst a force applied by a forcing unit such as a spring and to notinterfere with sliding of the sliding door.

If the openness of the window hole is greater than the threshold, thestopper member is released from being engaged with the hook member, sothat the stopper member projects toward the vehicle body by the forceapplied by the forcing unit. As a result, when the sliding door is slidin the opening direction, the stopper member projected abuts on themiddle striker to hinder the sliding door from sliding further.Therefore, even if the foreign object is stuck out through the windowhole, the foreign object will not be caught between the window frame andthe vehicle body.

The stopper member, however, is moved so as to project whenever theopenness of the window hole exceeds the threshold. For example, thestopper member is moved so as to project even if the sliding door isalready in the full-open position, and the foreign object cannot be putin/out through the window hole or the foreign object can be put in/outthrough the window hole but will not be caught between the window frameand the vehicle body.

There is no problem in the stopper member moving so as to be projectedwhen the openness of the window hole exceeds the threshold forpreventing the foreign object passing through the window hole from beingcaught. However, when the sliding door at the full-open position is slidin the closing direction, there is a problem in that a portion of thestopper member which is not originally designed as a portion to beabutted on the middle striker is abutted on the middle striker.Consequently, unpleasant noises are generated during the operation andsliding of the sliding door in the closing direction may be interfered.In particular, when the vehicle body is inclined, the sliding door mayslide abruptly in the closing direction, making the above problem moresignificant.

Furthermore, when operating the sliding door, a user of the vehicle maynot always stop the sliding door at the full-open position or thefull-closed position. Particularly if the vehicle is long like the vans,a distance for which the sliding door is slided from the full-closedposition to the full-open position is long. Therefore, the sliding doormay be slided only by a small distance and stopped there (hereinafterreferred to as being in a “half-open” state) for putting in/out a smallbaggage, for example.

When the sliding door is in the half-open state, the full open latchunit and the full closure latch unit of the vehicle do not function.Therefore, if the vehicle is inclined, the sliding door may possiblystart moving due to the gravity.

When the sliding door is closed, a weather strip provided between thesliding door and the vehicle body along the entire circumferencesufficiently functions as a pad so as to prevent generation of a loudnoise even if the sliding door moves and reaches at a high speed thefull-closed position.

However, when the sliding door is operated to open, the sliding doorreaches the full-open position with a member called a full-open stoppercolliding with a surface of the vehicle body and without the weatherstrip functioning as the pad. Accordingly, even if the pad such asrubber is provided between the full-open stopper and the surface of thevehicle body, it is difficult to prevent generation of a loud noise ifthe sliding door moving at a large speed reaches the full-open position.In a vehicle provided with a middle stopper mechanism, it is difficultto ensure sufficient strength with the stopper member. Not only thenoise but also a damage to the middle stopper mechanism may thus becaused.

Further, since the stopper member is often provided at a lower portionof the sliding door, mud or water droplets may adhere on the forcingunit. Accordingly, the force applied by the forcing unit is likely todecrease by the adhesion of mud, or by freezing of the water dropletsadhered. As a result, the stopper member cannot be fully projectedtoward the vehicle body, so that when the sliding door with the windowhole open is slid in the opening direction, the sliding door may reachthe full-open position because the stopper member cannot abut on themiddle striker.

Moreover, even if the sliding door is restricted from reaching thefull-open position, the sliding door is still able to slide in theopening direction, and getting in/out of passengers is still allowed.Therefore, if the user forgets to close the window glass, closes thesliding door, and leaves the vehicle, things left inside the vehicle maybe stolen.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to solve at least the problemsin the conventional technology.

A sliding door apparatus according to an aspect of the present inventionincludes a sliding door having a window hole and configured to beslidable with respect to a vehicle body; an opening/closing memberconfigured to open and close the window hole; a window hole opennessdetector configured to detect a position of the opening/closing memberrelative to the window hole so as to determine an openness of the windowhole; a door position detector configured to detect a position of thesliding door relative to the vehicle body; and a slide restricting unitconfigured to be activated to project from one to another one of thevehicle body and the sliding door, so as to abut on the another one suchthat the sliding door is stopped from sliding in a direction towardwhich the sliding door is opened relatively to the vehicle body, whenthe openness determined by the window hole openness detector is greaterthan a threshold, and the position of the sliding door is detected to bebetween a full-closed position and a midway position.

A sliding door apparatus according to another aspect of the presentinvention includes a sliding door configured to be slidable with respectto a vehicle body; a door speed detector configured to detect a speed ofthe sliding door at least when the sliding door slides in a directiontoward which the sliding door is opened; and a braking unit configuredto brake down the sliding door when the speed detected is greater than athreshold.

A sliding door apparatus according to still another aspect of thepresent invention includes a sliding door configured to be slidable withrespect to a vehicle body and having a window hole configured to beopened/closed; a restricting unit having an abutting portion configuredto advance from and retract back to the sliding door to and from thevehicle body and to restrict the sliding door from fully opening whenthe abutting portion advances so as to abut on a predetermined portionof the vehicle body; a forcing unit configured to apply a force on theabutting portion so as to keep the abutting portion retracted from thevehicle body; and a driving unit configured to drive the abuttingportion such that the abutting portion advances to the vehicle bodyagainst the force applied by the forcing unit when an openness of thewindow hole is greater than a threshold.

A vehicle door apparatus according to still another aspect of thepresent invention includes a door having a window hole configured to beopened/closed; and a door closure preventing unit configured to cancelclosure of the door, if the door is closed with respect to the vehiclebody when the window hole is open.

A vehicle door apparatus according to still another aspect of thepresent invention includes a door having a window hole configured to beopened/closed; and a door closure preventing unit configured to preventthe door from being closed if the door is moved to be closed withrespect to the vehicle body when the window hole is open.

The other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention arespecifically set forth in or will become apparent from the followingdetailed description of the invention when read in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a side view of a four-wheeled automobile having a slidingdoor apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention,with a sliding door fully closed;

FIG. 1B is a side view of the automobile with a slide restricting unitactivated;

FIG. 1C is a side view of the automobile with the sliding door fullyopened;

FIG. 2A is a plane view of parts of the automobile with the sliding doorslightly opened;

FIG. 2B is a plane view of the automobile with the slide restrictingunit activated;

FIG. 2C is a side view of the automobile with the sliding door fullyopened;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an open/close control system of the slidingdoor apparatus in the automobile shown in FIGS. 1A to 1C;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of processes executed by an open/close controllershown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5A is a side view of a four-wheeled automobile having a slidingdoor apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present inventionwith a sliding door fully closed;

FIG. 5B is a side view of the automobile in FIG. 5A with a sliderestricting unit activated;

FIG. 5C is a side view of the automobile in FIG. 5A with the slidingdoor fully opened;

FIG. 6A is a plan view of parts of the automobile shown in FIGS. 5A to5C with the sliding door slightly opened;

FIG. 6B is a plane view of the automobile with the slide restrictingunit activated;

FIG. 6C is a plane view of the automobile with the sliding door fullyopened;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an open/close control system of the slidingdoor apparatus in the automobile shown in FIGS. 5A to 5C;

FIG. 8 is a flow chart of processes executed by an open/close controllershown in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a side view of a vehicle having a sliding door apparatusaccording to a third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is an exploded perspective view of structural elements of arestricting unit included in the sliding door apparatus shown in FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a sectional view of the structural elements in an operationalstate of the restricting unit;

FIG. 12 is a sectional view of the structural elements representinganother operational state of the restricting unit;

FIG. 13 is a sectional view of the structural elements in still anotheroperational state of the restricting unit;

FIG. 14 is a side view of a vehicle body having a vehicle door apparatusaccording to a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 15 is an illustration of a full closure latch unit viewed from afront side of the vehicle body;

FIGS. 16A to 16C are illustrations of operations of the full closurelatch unit;

FIG. 17 is a block diagram of a controller;

FIG. 18 is a flow chart of processes executed by the controller; and

FIG. 19 is an illustration of a full closure latch unit according toanother embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention are explained in detailbelow with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1A to FIG. 1C are schematics of a four-wheeled automobile thatemploys a sliding door apparatus according to a first embodiment of thepresent invention. The automobile has a vehicle body 1 of a one-boxtype, an entrance opening 2, which allows passengers to get on or offthe vehicle, disposed substantially at a center of a side of the vehiclebody 1, and a sliding door 10 provided at the entrance opening 2.

The sliding door 10 is slidably provided on the side of the vehicle body1 via an upper guiding unit 11 provided at an upper portion of thevehicle body 1, a lower guiding unit 12 at a lower portion of thevehicle body 1, and a center guiding unit 13 at a center portion of thevehicle body 1. The sliding door 10 shuts the entrance opening 2 whenslid furthest toward a front of the vehicle body 1 as shown in FIG. 1A(hereinafter, “a closed position”). The sliding door 10 opens theentrance opening 2 when slid furthest toward a back of the vehicle body1 as shown in FIG. 1C (hereinafter, “a full-open position”). Theseguiding units are provided with a support frame 122 having a runningroller 121, which are provided at the sliding door 10 and with a guiderail 123 for guiding the running roller 121, which is provided on thevehicle body 1, as shown in FIG. 2A to FIG. 2C.

The sliding door 10 includes a window glass 20 serving as anopening/closing member as shown in FIG. 1. The window glass 20 is foropening and closing a window hole 14 provided through the slide door 10.A degree to which the window hole 14 is opened or an openness of thewindow hole 14 can be adjusted by operation of a window regulatormechanism 15 provided between the window glass 20 and the sliding door10. A so-called power window having a regulator switch (not shown) foroperating the window regulator mechanism 15 may be employed. The windowglass 20 may be moved so as to be closed by rotation of a window motor15 a in a first direction with an UP operation of the regulator switch,and so as to be opened by rotation of the window motor 15 a in a seconddirection with a DOWN operation of the regulator switch.

Between the sliding door 10 and the vehicle body 1, an automatic slidingunit 30, full closure latch units 40 f and 40 r, and a full open latchunit 50 are provided.

The automatic sliding unit 30 is configured to activate an actuator inresponse to an operation made through a door switch provided at adriver's seat or a passenger's seat in the vehicle, or at a door handle16 or a key, so as to allow the sliding door 10 to slide by an action ofthe actuator. More specifically, a drum 32 is provided on a driving axisof a sliding motor 31 serving as the actuator, and the drum 32 and thesupport frame 122 are linked by a door-closing wire 33 for moving thesliding door 10 forward and a door-opening wire 34 for moving thesliding door 10 backward. The sliding door 10 is slid in an openingdirection to which the sliding door is opened or in a closing directionto which the sliding door is closed, in response to normalrotation/reverse rotation of the sliding motor 31 transmitted to thesupport frame 122 through the wires 33 and 34.

The full closure latch units 40 f and 40 r are for keeping the slidingdoor 10 at the full-closed position, and are provided at two positionsat a front and a back, one of the positions between a front edge portionof the sliding door 10 and the vehicle body 1 and another of thepositions between a rear edge portion of the sliding door 10 and thevehicle body 1. The full open latch unit 50 is for keeping the slidingdoor 10 at the full-open position, and is provided between the supportframe 122 of the lower guiding unit 12 and the vehicle body 1, as shownin FIG. 2, for example. In the first embodiment, the full closure latchunits 40 f and 40 r, and the full open latch unit 50 both include astriker 51 disposed at the vehicle body 1 and a latch 52 disposed at thesliding door 10, so that the sliding door 10 is kept at a desiredposition in relation to the vehicle body 1 when the striker 51 and thelatch 52 are meshed with each other, as is representatively shown inFIG. 2. The meshing engagements between the striker 51 and the latch 52of these full open latch unit 50 and full closure latch units 40 f and40 r can be released by operating the door switch so as to activate arelease actuator (not shown). Of course, the meshing engagements betweenthe striker 51 and the latch 52 in these full open latch unit 50 andfull closure latch units 40 f and 40 r may be released by operating thedoor handle 16 provided inside/outside the sliding door 10.

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the sliding door 10 also has a windowhole openness detector 60, as well as a door position detector 70 and aslide restricting unit 80 between the sliding door 10 and the vehiclebody 1.

The window hole openness detector 60 detects the openness of the windowhole 14 opened and closed as the window glass 20 is moved. In the firstembodiment, the openness of the window hole 14 is detected bycalculating an amount and a direction of rotation of the window motor 15a based on an output pulse from a rotary encoder (not shown) of thewindow motor 15 a as shown in FIG. 1. A result of the detection is sentto an open/close controller 100.

The door position detector 70 is for detecting a position of the slidingdoor 10 relative to the vehicle body 1. As shown in FIG. 2, in the firstembodiment, the door position detector 70 detects the position bycalculating a rotation amount and a rotation direction of the slidingmotor 31 based on an output pulse from a rotary encoder (not shown)provided at the sliding motor 31. A result of the detection of the doorposition detector 70 is given to the open/close controller 100 as willbe described later.

The slide restricting unit 80 restricts, when activated before thesliding door 10 reaches the full-open position, sliding of the slidingdoor 10 in the opening direction relative to the vehicle body 1. In thefirst embodiment, the slide restricting unit 80 employs a structureshown in FIG. 2A to FIG. 2C. A stopper member 81 is pivotably providedat the supporting frame 122 of the lower guiding unit 12, and anabutting portion 82 is provided at the vehicle body 1. When the sliderestricting unit 80 is not activated, the stopper member 81 is kept at aretracted position as shown in FIGS. 2A and 2C so that the stoppermember 81 does not interfere with the sliding of the sliding door 10. Onthe other hand, when the slide restricting unit 80 is activated as shownin FIG. 2B, the stopping member 81 is held at an advanced positiontoward the vehicle body 1 by an actuator (not shown). Accordingly, whenthe sliding door 10 is slid in the opening direction, the stopper member81 abuts on the abutting portion 82 of the vehicle body 1, so as toprevent the sliding door 10 from further sliding. The position at whichthe stopper member 81 and the abutting portion 82 abut each other(hereinafter “midway position”), as shown in FIG. 1B is set so that asafe distance between a front side frame of the window hole 14 and a Cpillar 3 of the vehicle body 1 is ensured before the sliding door 10reaches the full-open position.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an open/close control system of the slidingdoor apparatus. The open/close controller 100 controls operation of theslide restricting unit 80 based on the results of the detection by thewindow hole openness detector 60 and the door position detector 70.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of processes executed by the open/close controller100. The open/close controller 100 constantly monitors the result of thedetection by the window hole openness detector 60 and determines whetherthe openness of the window hole 14 exceeds a threshold (step S100). Thethreshold is a criterion for the determination, and is preferably assmall as possible. The threshold may be 150 mm, for example.

If the openness of the window hole 14 detected by the window holeopenness detector 60 is 150 mm or less, the open/close controller 100keeps the slide restricting unit 80 non-activated (step S101). When theslide restricting unit 80 is not activated, since the stopper member 81is held at the retracted position, the stopper member 81 and theabutting portion 82 do not abut on each other wherever the sliding door10 is slid to. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2A, when the sliding door 10is in the fully-closed position, by disengaging the striker 51 and thelatch 52 of the full closure latch units 40 f and 40 r, it is possibleto slide the sliding door 10 to the full-open position without anytrouble. As a result, the entrance opening 2 of the vehicle body 1 isopened widely as shown in FIG. 2C, and getting on and off the vehicle bypassengers and taking baggages in and out the vehicles are facilitated.

On the other hand, if the openness of the window hole 14 detected by thewindow hole openness detector 60 is greater than 150 mm, the open/closecontroller 100 detects a position of the sliding door 10 relative to thevehicle body 1 via the door position detector 70 (step S102).

When the sliding door 10 has already passed the midway position and isbefore the full-open position, that is, when the window hole 14 is openbut a foreign object cannot be put in/out through the open area, or whena foreign object cannot be caught between the open area and the vehiclebody 1 even though the foreign object may be put in/out through the openarea, the open/close controller 100 proceeds the flow to step S101 andkeeps the slide restricting unit 80 inactivated. Accordingly, it becomespossible to slide the sliding door 10 without any trouble as is theabove case. The entrance opening 2 can be widely opened by keeping thesliding door 10 at the full-open position, so that getting on/off ofpassengers and putting in/out of baggage are facilitated. On the otherhand, when the sliding door 10 is slid in the closing direction, thestopper member 81 and the abutting portion 82 will not abut on eachother, so that the sliding door 10 can be brought to the full-closedposition without any interference to the operation and unpleasant noisesduring the operation.

When the sliding door 10 is between the full-closed position and themidway position at step S102, the open/close controller 100 switches theslide restricting unit 80 activated (step S103). As described above,when the slide restricting unit 80 is activated, the stopper member 81is kept advanced relative to the vehicle body 1. Therefore, when thesliding door 10 is slid in the opening direction, the stopper member 81abuts on the abutting portion 82 of the vehicle body 1, and the slidingdoor 10 is stopped from sliding at the midway position with a certaindistance kept between the front side frame of the opened window hole 14and the C pillar 3 of the vehicle body 1 as shown in FIG. 2B. As aresult, even if there is the foreign object passing through the openarea of the window hole 14, it is possible to prevent the foreign objectfrom being caught between the window frame and the vehicle body 1.

After the sliding door 10 has stopped at the midway position, when thewindow glass 20 is closed by the UP operation of the regulator switch sothat the openness becomes equal to or less than 150 mm, the flowproceeds to step S101 from step S100, such that the sliding door 10 isallowed to slide to the full-open position again.

The open/close controller 100 repeatedly executes the steps describedabove, activating the slide restricting unit 80 to restrict the slidingdoor 10 from sliding in the opening direction only when the openness ofthe window hole 14 is greater than the predetermined threshold and thesliding door 10 is between the full-closed position and the midwayposition. In other words, if the foreign object cannot be put in/outthrough the window hole 14, for example, when the sliding door 10 isalready at the full-open position, or if the foreign object cannot becaught between the window frame and the vehicle body 1 even if theforeign object may be put in/out through the window hole 14, the stoppermember 81 will not move to be stuck out.

Therefore, for example, when the window hole 14 is largely opened whenthe sliding door 10 is at the full-open position, and then the slidingdoor 10 is slid into the closing direction, the stopper member 81 andthe abutting portion 82 will not abut on each other, so that unpleasantnoises will not be generated as the sliding door is operated, andclosing of the sliding door 10 will not be interfered.

In the first embodiment, although the sliding door apparatus for openingand closing the entrance opening 2 disposed substantially at the centerof the side of the vehicle body 1 of the one box type has been describedas an example, the sliding door apparatus may be utilized inopening/closing an opening provided in any other types of vehicles.Further, the sliding door apparatus may not be necessarily provided onthe side of the vehicle. Furthermore, although the window glass 20 thatopens and closes by the rotation of the window motor 15 a in response tothe operation of the regulator switch has been described as an exampleof the opening/closing member, the opening/closing member is notnecessarily a glass, or driven by a motor. The opening/closing membermay be any other members that can open and close the window hole 14 ofthe sliding door 10, and the opening/closing member is not necessarilyopened/closed in the up-and-down direction. Moreover, although theembodiment in which the window hole openness detector 60 and the doorposition detector 70 carry out detections based on the output pulsesfrom the rotary encoder (not shown) has been described, the principle ofthe detections and the specific structures of the detectors are notlimited to those of the embodiment.

In addition, the threshold of the window hole openness detector 60 isset at 150 mm in the first embodiment, but the threshold may be set atany arbitrary value. For example, by setting the threshold at 0 mm, itis possible to more infallibly prevent any foreign objects from beingcaught.

FIG. 5A to FIG. 5C are schematics of a four-wheeled automobile thatemploys a sliding door apparatus according to a second embodiment of thepresent invention. The automobile has a vehicle body 301 of a one-boxtype, an entrance opening 302, which allows passengers to get on or offthe vehicle, disposed substantially at a center of a side of the vehiclebody 301, and a sliding door 310 provided at the entrance opening 302.

The sliding door 310 is slidably provided on the side of the vehiclebody 301 via an upper guiding unit 311 provided at an upper portion ofthe vehicle body 301, a lower guiding unit 312 at a lower portion of thevehicle body 301, and a center guiding unit 313 at a center portion ofthe vehicle body 301. The sliding door 310 shuts the entrance opening302 when slid furthest toward a front of the vehicle body 301 as shownin FIG. 5A (hereinafter, “a closed position”). The sliding door 310opens the entrance opening 302 when slid furthest toward a back of thevehicle body 301 as shown in FIG. 5C (hereinafter, “a full-openposition”). These guiding units are provided with a support frame 422having a running roller 221, which are provided at the sliding door 310and with a guide rail 423 for guiding the running roller 421, which isprovided on the vehicle body 301, as shown in FIG. 6A to FIG. 6C.

The sliding door 310 includes a window glass 320 serving as anopening/closing member. The window glass 320 is for opening and closinga window hole 314 provided through the slide door 310. A degree to whichthe window hole 314 is opened can be adjusted by operation of a windowregulator mechanism 315 provided between the window glass 320 and thesliding door 310. A so-called power window having a regulator switch(not shown) for operating the window regulator mechanism 315 may beemployed. The window glass 320 may be moved so as to be closed byrotation of a window motor 315 a in a first direction with an UPoperation of the regulator switch, and so as to be opened by rotation ofthe window motor 315 a in a second direction with a DOWN operation ofthe regulator switch.

Between the sliding door 310 and the vehicle body 301, an automaticsliding unit 330, full closure latch units 340 f and 340 r, and a fullopen latch unit 350 are provided.

The automatic sliding unit 330 is configured to activate an actuator inresponse to an operation made through a door switch provided at adriver's seat or a passenger's seat in the vehicle, or at a door handle316 or a key, so as to allow the sliding door 310 to slide by an actionof the actuator. More specifically, a drum 332 is provided on a drivingaxis of a sliding motor 331 serving as the actuator, and the drum 332and the support frame 422 are linked by a door-closing wire 333 formoving the sliding door 310 forward and a door-opening wire 334 formoving the sliding door 310 backward. The sliding door 310 is slid in anopening direction to which the sliding door is opened or in a closingdirection to which the sliding door is closed, in response to normalrotation/reverse rotation of the sliding motor 331 transmitted to thesupport frame 422 through the wires 333 and 334.

The full closure latch units 340 f and 340 r are for keeping the slidingdoor 310 at the full-closed position, and are provided at two positionsat a front and a back, one of the positions between a front edge portionof the sliding door 310 and the vehicle body 301 and another of thepositions between a rear edge portion of the sliding door 310 and thevehicle body 301. The full open latch unit 350 is for keeping thesliding door 310 at the full-open position, and is provided between thesupport frame 422 of the lower guiding unit 312 and the vehicle body301, as shown in FIG. 6, for example. In the second embodiment, the fullclosure latch units 340 f and 340 r, and the full open latch unit 350both include a striker 351 disposed at the vehicle body 301 and a latch352 disposed at the sliding door 310, so that the sliding door 310 iskept at a desired position in relation to the vehicle body 301 when thestriker 351 and the latch 352 are meshed with each other, as isrepresentatively shown in FIG. 6. The meshing engagements between thestriker 351 and the latch 352 of these full open latch unit 350 and fullclosure latch units 340 f and 340 r can be released by operating thedoor switch so as to activate a release actuator (not shown). Of course,the meshing engagements between the striker 351 and the latch 352 inthese full open latch unit 350 and full closure latch units 340 f and340 r may be released by operating the door handle 316 providedinside/outside the sliding door 310.

As shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, the sliding door 310 also has a windowhole openness detector 360, as well as a door detector 370, a sliderestricting unit 380, and a braking unit 390 between the sliding door310 and the vehicle body 301.

The window hole openness detector 360 detects the openness of the windowhole 314 opened and closed as the window glass 320 is moved. In thesecond embodiment, the openness of the window hole 314 is detected bycalculating an amount and a direction of rotation of the window motor315 a based on an output pulse from a rotary encoder (not shown) of thewindow motor 315 a as shown in FIG. 5. A result of the detection is sentto an open/close controller 400.

The door detector 370 is for detecting a position and a speed of thesliding door 310 relative to the vehicle body 301. As shown in FIG. 6,in the second embodiment, the door detector 370 detects the position andthe speed by calculating a rotation amount and a rotation direction ofthe sliding motor 331 based on an output pulse from a rotary encoder(not shown) provided at the sliding motor 331. A result of the detectionof the door detector 370 is given to the open/close controller 400 aswill be described later.

The slide restricting unit 380 restricts, when activated before thesliding door 310 reaches the full-open position, sliding of the slidingdoor 310 in the opening direction relative to the vehicle body 301. Inthe second embodiment, the slide restricting unit 380 employs astructure shown in FIG. 6A to FIG. 6C. A stopper member 381 is pivotablyprovided at the supporting frame 422 of the lower guiding unit 312, andan abutting portion 382 is provided at the vehicle body 301. When theslide restricting unit 380 is not activated, the stopper member 381 iskept at a retracted position as shown in FIGS. 6A and 6C so that thestopper member 381 does not interfere with the sliding of the slidingdoor 310. On the other hand, when the slide restricting unit 380 isactivated as shown in FIG. 6B, the stopping member 381 is held at anadvanced position toward the vehicle body 301 by an actuator (notshown). Accordingly, when the sliding door 310 is slid in the openingdirection, the stopper member 381 abuts on the abutting portion 82 ofthe vehicle body 1, so as to prevent the sliding door 310 from furthersliding. The position at which the stopper member 381 and the abuttingportion 382 abut each other (hereinafter “midway position”), as shown inFIG. 5B is set so that a safe distance between a front side frame of thewindow hole 314 and a C pillar 303 of the vehicle body 301 is ensuredbefore the sliding door 310 reaches the full-open position.

The braking unit 390 is for braking the sliding door 310. In the secondembodiment, the braking unit 390 is connected with the drum 332 of theautomatic sliding unit 330 via an electromagnetic clutch 391, applies aload on rotation of the drum 332 when the electromagnetic clutch 391 isbrought into a linked state, and brakes the sliding door 310 via thedoor-closing wire 333 and the door-opening wire 334.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an open/close control system of the slidingdoor apparatus. The open/close controller 400 controls operation of theslide restricting unit 380 and the braking unit 390 based on the resultsof the detection by the window hole openness detector 360 and the doordetector 370.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of processes executed by the open/close controller400. The open/close controller 400 constantly monitors the result of thedetection by the window hole openness detector 360 and determineswhether the openness of the window hole 314 exceeds a threshold (stepS200). The threshold is a criterion for the determination, and ispreferably as small as possible. The threshold may be 150 mm, forexample.

If the openness of the window hole 314 detected by the window holeopenness detector 360 is 150 mm or less, the open/close controller 400keeps the slide restricting unit 380 non-activated (step S201). When theslide restricting unit 380 is not activated, since the stopper member381 is held at the retracted position, the stopper member 381 and theabutting portion 382 do not abut on each other wherever the sliding door310 is slid to. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6A, when the sliding door310 is in the full-closed position, by disengaging the striker 351 andthe latch 352 of the full closure latch units 340 f and 340 r, it ispossible to slide the sliding door 310 to the full-open position withoutany trouble. As a result, the entrance opening 302 of the vehicle body301 is opened widely as shown in FIG. 6C, and getting on and off thevehicle by passengers and taking baggage in and out the vehicles arefacilitated.

In the meantime, the open/close controller 400 monitors the position ofthe sliding door 310 through the door detector 370 (step S202), anddetermines whether the speed of the sliding door 310 detected by thedoor detector 370 is greater than a predetermined threshold until thesliding door 310 reaches the full-open position (step S203).

When the speed of the sliding door 310 is equal to or less than thethreshold, the flow returns to step S202 without executing the processesdescribed below. When the speed of the sliding door 310 is greater thanthe threshold, the braking unit 390 is activated until the speed of thesliding door 310 decreases to a value equal to or less than thethreshold (step S204). Therefore, even if the sliding door 310 ishalf-open when the vehicle is inclined, for example, the sliding door310 will not start moving at a high speed to immediately reach thefull-open position and generate a loud noise.

When it is detected that the sliding door 310 has reached the full-openposition at step S202, the flow is ended.

If the openness of the window hole 314 is greater than 150 mm at stepS200, the open/close controller 400 switches the slide restricting unit380 to an activated state (step S205). Once the slide restricting unit380 is brought into the activated state, the stopper member 381 is heldat the advanced position toward the vehicle body 301. Accordingly, whenthe sliding door 310 is slid in the opening direction, the stoppermember 381 abuts on the abutting portion 382 of the vehicle body 301. Asa result, as shown in FIG. 6B, the sliding door 310 is stopped fromsliding at the midway position with a predetermined distance between thefront side frame of the opened window hole 314 and the C pillar 303 ofthe vehicle body 301. In this manner, even if a foreign object ispresent through the open area of the window hole 314, it is possible toprevent the foreign object from being caught between the window frameand the vehicle body 301.

In the meantime, the open/close controller 400 monitors the position ofthe sliding door 310 through the door detector 370 (step S206), anddetermines whether the speed of the sliding door 310 detected by thedoor detector 370 is greater than a predetermined threshold until thesliding door 310 reaches the midway position (step S207).

When the speed of the sliding door 310 is equal to or less than thethreshold, the flow returns to step S206 without executing the stepsdescribed below. When the speed of the sliding door 310 is greater thanthe threshold, the braking unit 390 is activated until the speed of thesliding door 310 is decreased to a value equal to or less than thethreshold (step S208). Therefore, even if the sliding door 310 ishalf-open when the vehicle is inclined for example, the sliding door 310will not start moving at a high speed to immediately reach the midwayposition, generate a loud noise, and damage the slide restricting unit380.

When it is detected that the sliding door 310 has reached the midwayposition at step S206, that is, when it is detected that the slidingdoor 310 is stopped at the midway position by the slide restricting unit380, the flow is ended.

The open/close controller 400 then repeatedly executes the above steps,such that sliding of the sliding door 310 in the opening direction isrestricted by activating the slide restricting unit 380 when theopenness of the window hole 314 is greater than the predeterminedthreshold. Accordingly, even if a foreign object is put out through thewindow hole 314, it is possible to prevent the foreign object from beingcaught between the window frame and the vehicle body 301, so that thesliding door 310 is more user-friendly. Additionally, when the slidingdoor 310 starts moving at a high speed, the braking unit 390 isactivated so as to reduce the speed. Accordingly, it is possible toinfallibly prevent generation of noises and damages to the sliderestricting unit 380 when the sliding door 310 is stopped half-open.

In the second embodiment, although the sliding door apparatus foropening and closing the entrance opening 302 disposed substantially atthe center of the side of the vehicle body 301 of the one box type hasbeen described as an example, the sliding door apparatus may be utilizedin opening/closing an opening provided in any other types of vehicles.Further, the sliding door apparatus may not be necessarily provided onthe side of the vehicle. Furthermore, although the window glass 320 thatopens and closes by the rotation of the window motor 315 a in responseto the operation of the regulator switch has been described as anexample of the opening/closing member, the opening/closing member is notnecessarily a glass, or driven by a motor. The opening/closing membermay be any other members that can open and close the window hole 314 ofthe sliding door 310, and the opening/closing member is not necessarilyopened/closed in the up-and-down direction. Moreover, although theembodiment in which the window hole openness detector 360 and the doordetector 370 carry out detections based on the output pulses from therotary encoder (not shown) has been described, the principle of thedetections and the specific structures of the detectors are not limitedto those of the embodiment.

In addition, although the embodiment in which the slide door apparatushaving the slide restricting unit 380 has been described, the slidingdoor apparatus does not necessarily have the slide restricting unit 380.What is more, the threshold of 150 mm has been used in the secondembodiment, but the threshold may be set at any arbitrary value. Forexample, by setting the threshold at 0 mm, it is possible to moreinfallibly prevent any foreign objects from being caught.

FIG. 9 is a side view of a vehicle that adopts a sliding door apparatusaccording to a third embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 9, asliding door apparatus 510 includes a sliding door 520 and a restrictingunit 540.

The sliding door 520 is disposed on a side of a vehicle body 501 of afour-wheeled automobile such as a “one-box” van. This sliding door 520is capable of sliding along a fore-and-aft direction of the vehicle body501. To be more specific, the sliding door 520 is engaged with a rail503 provided approximately parallel to the fore-and-aft direction ofvehicle body 501 on the side of the vehicle body 501. The sliding door520 slides along the rail 503 in the fore-and-aft direction, so as toopen/close an opening 501 a on the side of the vehicle body 501. In theillustrated example, the opening 501 a is closed, that is, the slidingdoor 520 is fully closed.

The sliding door 520 includes a window hole 521 at an upper portion ofthe sliding door 520. The window hole 521 can be opened/closed byup-and-down movement of a window glass 522. In the presentspecification, the window hole 521 is in a closed state when the windowglass 522 is at the upper dead end and in an open state when the windowglass 522 has moved down by a predetermined amount from the upper deadend. The up-and-down movement of the window glass 522 is achieved by awindow regulator 523. A power window regulator of an X-arm type is usedas the window regulator 523 in the second embodiment.

The window regulator 523 includes a lifting arm 731, a first movable arm732, and a second movable arm 733. The lifting arm 731 has a roller (notshown) at a distal end portion 731 a of the lifting arm 731 and an armdriving unit (displacing mechanism) 730 at a proximal end portion 731 bof the lifting arm 731. The roller is engaged with a guide portion (notshown) of a first supporting member 735 fixed at a lower end of thewindow glass 522 so as to be movable in a horizontal direction. The armdriving unit 730 has a motor inside, and is configured to swing thelifting arm 731. In a middle portion of the lifting arm 731, a spindle736 is rotatably provided so as to pass through the lifting arm 731.

The first movable arm 732 has a distal end portion 732 a with a roller(not shown) and a proximal end portion 732 b fixed to the spindle 736.The roller is engaged with the guide portion of the first supportingmember 735 so as to be movable in the horizontal direction. Therefore,the first movable arm 732 is able to swing about the axial center of thespindle 736.

The second movable arm 733 has a distal end portion 733 a with a roller(not shown) and a proximal end portion 733 b fixed to the spindle 736.The roller is disposed on an inner panel (not shown) of the sliding door520 and is engaged with a guide portion (not shown) of a secondsupporting member 737 which is parallel with the first supporting member735, so as to be movable in the horizontal direction. Therefore, thesecond movable arm 733 is able to swing about the axial center of thespindle 736.

That is, the window regulator 523 moves up/down the window glass 522 bydisplacing the first supporting member 735 in a direction of leaving orapproaching the second supporting member 737 with the lifting arm 731,the first movable arm 732 and the second movable arm 733 driven by thearm driving unit 730. The window regulator 523 may be of a manual typesuch that the arm driving unit 730 can be manually driven.

On the other hand, to the arm driving unit 730 an end portion of a cableC as a restiform member (see FIGS. 11 to 13) is latched. Another endportion of the cable C is, as will be described in detail, latched to apart of the restricting unit 540. The arm driving unit 730 is activatedto draw in the cable C. More specifically, the arm driving unit 730draws in the cable C when the arm driving unit 730 drives down thewindow glass 522 which is at the upper dead end. When the arm drivingunit 730 is to drive up the window glass 522, the cable C is freed.

The restricting unit 540 is disposed at a lower portion of the slidingdoor 520. More specifically, the restricting unit 540 is supported by afixed bracket (not shown) provided at a predetermined position in thelower portion of the sliding door 520. FIGS. 10 to 13 are illustrationsof elements of the restricting unit of the sliding door apparatusaccording to the third embodiment. FIG. 10 is an exploded perspectiveview of the elements, and FIGS. 11 to 13 are cross sections of theelements in different operational states of the restricting unit. InFIGS. 10 to 13, the restricting unit 540 includes a first movable member541 and a second movable member 542.

The first movable member 541 is disposed swingably on a base plate 543of the fixed bracket. To be more specific, a supporting rod 544 insertedin a hole 543 a of the base plate 543 is inserted in a through hole 541b at a proximal portion 541 a of the first movable member 541 such thatthe first movable member 541 is able to swing about the axial center ofthe supporting rod 544.

To a first latch piece 541 d at an end portion 541 c of the firstmovable member 541, another end portion of the cable C is latched. Thatis, the first movable member 541 is mechanically connected with the armdriving unit 730 via the cable C. Further, to this first latch piece 541d one end portion 545 a of a first coil spring 545 is latched. The firstcoil spring 545 is wound around the supporting rod 544, and another endportion 545 b of the first coil spring 545 is latched to a stopper rod546 fixed to the base plate 543. The first coil spring 545 applies aforce on the first movable member 541 in a direction of an arrow N1 inFIG. 11 (clockwise direction), and a side edge of the base part 541 aabuts on the stopper rod 546.

The second movable member 542 is disposed on the base plate 543 so as tobe able to swing, between the base plate 543 and the first movablemember 541. To be more specific, the supporting rod 544 is inserted in athrough hole 542 b at a base portion 542 a of the second movable member542 such that the second movable member 542 is able to swing and the endportion 542 c is able to move toward/away from the vehicle body 501.

To a second latch piece 541 f located at a protrusion 541 e whichprotrudes from the base portion 541 a of the first movable member 541,and a spring latch piece 542 e located at a protrusion 542 d whichprotrudes from the base part 542 a of the second movable member 542, oneend portion 547 a and another end portion 547 b of a second coil spring547 are latched. The second coil spring 547 is wound around thesupporting rod 544 similarly to the first coil spring 545. Positionalrelationship between the first movable member 541 and the second movablemember 542 is defined such that by the force applied by the second coilspring 547 the protrusions 541 e and 542 d (the second latch piece 541 fand the spring latch piece 542 e) are overlapped with each other.Therefore, in a normal state of the second movable member 542, theprotrusion 542 d is overlapped with the protrusion 541 e of the firstmovable member 541 (See FIG. 11). As is the same with the first movablemember 541, the first coil spring 545 applies a force on the secondmovable member 542 in the direction of the arrow N1 in FIG. 11.Accordingly, in the normal state of the second movable member 542, theend portion 542 c is retracted in relation to the vehicle body 501. Inother words, the end portion 542 c of the second movable member 542 isaccommodated in the sliding door 520 indicated by a chain double-dashedline in FIG. 11.

Next, operation of the sliding door apparatus 510 will be explained. Forconvenience of explanation, the sliding door 520 is assumed to be fullyclosed initially.

When the window glass 522 is at the upper dead end and the window hole521 is closed, the arm driving unit 730 of the window regulator 523 isnot activated and does not draw in the cable C. Therefore, in therestricting unit 540, the first movable member 541 and the secondmovable member 542 are held at positions shown in FIG. 11 by the forcein the direction of the arrow N1 applied by the first coil spring 545,with the side edge of the end portion 541 c of the first movable member541 abutting on the stopper rod 546. At this time, the end portion 542 cof the second movable member 542 is retracted in relation to vehiclebody 501. That is, the end portion 542 c is accommodated in the slidingdoor 520. In other words, the second movable member 542 is positioned ata retracted position relative to the vehicle body 501. If the slidingdoor 520 is operated to fully open in such a state, the sliding door 520slides in the backward direction of the vehicle body 501 to be fullyopened.

On the other hand, he window glass 522 is moved down from the upper deadend, when the sliding door 520 is initially fully closed, the windowhole 521 is also closed, and the window regulator 523 is driven bydriving of the arm driving unit 730. The arm driving unit 730 draws inthe cable C. The cable C is thus displaced by an amount corresponding toan extent to which the cable C is drawn in by the arm driving unit 730(hereinafter also referred to as a “drawn-in amount”). By suchdisplacement of the cable C, the restricting unit 540 is operated asdescribed below.

As shown in FIG. 12, the first movable member 541 of the restrictingunit 540 swings in the direction of the arrow N1 against the forceapplied by the first coil spring 545. As a result, since the protrusion542 d is overlapped with the protrusion 541 e of the first movablemember 541 by the force applied by the second coil spring 547, thesecond movable member 542 of the restricting unit 540 swings in thedirection of an arrow N2 depending on the swinging motion of the firstmovable member 541 while keeping the overlapped state.

The side edge of the end portion 542 c of the second movable member 542having swung in the direction of the arrow N2 then abuts on the stopperrod 546 and stops swinging. At this time, the end portion 542 c of thesecond movable member 542 is advanced in relation to the vehicle body501. That is, the end portion 542 c is protruded toward the vehicle body501 from the sliding door 520 as denoted by the chain double-dashed linein FIG. 12. In other words, the second movable member 542 is positionedat an advanced position relative to the vehicle body 501. An amount ofswinging from the retracted position to the advanced position of thesecond movable member 542 is associated in advance with an amount bywhich the window glass 522 is moved down from the upper dead end, namelywith the openness of the window hole 521. When the openness of thewindow hole 521 exceeds a predetermined magnitude, the second movablemember 542 is defined to be positioned at the advanced position.

When the sliding door 520 is operated to fully open when the secondmovable member 542 is at the advanced position, the sliding door 520slides in the backward direction of the vehicle body 501. However, theend portion 542 c of the second movable member 542 comes into abutmentwith an abutting block (not shown) arranged at a predetermined positionof the vehicle body 501, so that the sliding door 520 is restricted frombeing fully opened. The abutting block is provided at such a positionthat the whole of the window hole 521 of the sliding door 520 can beprevented from crossing a pillar 504 of the vehicle body 501 (see FIG.9) by sliding of the sliding door 520.

On the other hand, when the window glass 522 is moved up to the upperdead end to close the window hole 521, the arm driving unit 730 releasesthe cable C. It is assumed that the second movable member 542 of therestricting unit 540 here is at the advanced position as shown in FIG.12 for convenience of the explanation. In the restricting unit 540, thefirst movable member 541 and the second movable member 542 swing in thedirection of the arrow N1 by the force applied by the first coil spring545. As a result, the second movable member 542 is positioned at theretracted position, and the end portion 542 c of the second movablemember 542 is retracted in relation to the vehicle body 501 (See FIG.11).

As described above, in the second movable member 542, the amount ofswinging from the retracted position to the advanced position is a totalamount of swinging. In the restricting unit 540, product-to-productvariation may cause variation in a relationship between the total amountof swinging and the draw-in amount of the cable C. Accordingly, toensure that the end portion 542 c of the second movable member 542 isadvanced relative to the vehicle body 501, the draw-in amount of thecable C by the arm driving unit 730 (displacement of the cable C) ispreferably larger than the total amount of swinging of the secondmovable member 542. Therefore, the draw-in amount of the cable C by thearm driving unit 730 is set to be larger than the total amount ofswinging of the second movable member 542.

When the draw-in amount of the cable C by the arm driving unit 730 islarger than the total swinging amount of the second movable member 542,as shown in FIG. 13, the first movable member 541 of the restrictingunit 540 swings in the direction of the arrow N2 in FIG. 13 against theforce applied by the second coil spring 547, independently of the secondmovable member 542. At this time, the first movable member 541 swingsuntil the protrusion 541 e abuts on the stopper rod 546.

In summary, in the sliding door apparatus 510 according to the thirdembodiment of the present invention, the first movable member 541 andthe second movable member 542 serve as the abutting portion to beabutted on the abutting block which is the predetermined portion of thevehicle body 501. The first coil spring 545 serves as the forcing unit,which applies the force on the second movable member 542 so as to holdthe second movable member 542 at the retracted position relative to thevehicle body 501. The second coil spring 547 links the first movablemember 541 and the second movable member 542 when the second movablemember 542 swings from the retracted position to the advanced position,while serving as the permitting unit which permits the first movablemember 541 to swing in relation to the second movable member 542 afterthe second movable member 542 has swung to the advanced position.

Further, the restricting unit 540 can be held at the retracted positionrelative to the vehicle body 501 as the first coil spring 545 appliesthe force on the first movable member 541 and the second movable member542. The restricting unit 540 can be also held at the advanced positionwhere the end portion 542 c of the second movable member 542 is advancedrelative to the vehicle body 501 against the force applied by the firstcoil spring 545 when the arm driving unit 730 draws in the cable C andthe openness of the window hole 521 exceeds the predetermined magnitude.Therefore, even if the force by the first coil spring 545 is weakeneddue to adhesion of mud or water to the first coil spring 545, in therestricting unit 540, the end portion 542 c of the second movable member542 can be infallibly held at the advanced position relative to thevehicle body 501. Therefore, for fully opening the sliding door 520 inwhich the window hole 521 is opened by the openness exceeding thepredetermined magnitude, the end portion 542 c of the second movablemember 542 can infallibly abut on the abutting block, so that thesliding door 520 can be infallibly restricted from being fully opened.Accordingly, even if the sliding door 520 is operated to fully open withan object passing through the window hole 521, the object will not becaught between the window frame of the window hole 521 and the pillar504 of the vehicle body 501 and hence damages are prevented.

Furthermore, according to the sliding door apparatus 510, the secondcoil spring 547 on one hand links the first movable member 541 and thesecond movable member 542 when the second movable member 542 swings fromthe retracted position to the advanced position. On the other hand, thesecond coil spring 547 allows the first movable member 541 to swing inrelation to the second movable member 542 after the second movablemember 542 has swung to the advanced position. As a result, even ifproduct-to-product variation causes variation in the relationshipbetween the total swinging amount of the second movable member 542 andthe draw-in amount of the cable C, the end portion 542 c of the secondmovable member 542 can be infallibly brought to the advanced positionrelative to the vehicle body 501.

Although an example of preferred embodiments of the present inventionhas been described, it is to be understood that the present invention isnot limited to this embodiment. For example, the openness of the windowhole may be detected by a detector such as a sensor, and the cable maybe drawn in according to a result of this detection.

A vehicle door apparatus according to a fourth embodiment of the presentinvention as shown in FIG. 14 is applied to a sliding door 802 which isa door provided on a side of a vehicle body 801. The sliding door 802 isengaged with a rail 803 provided approximately parallel with thefore-and-aft direction of the vehicle body 801 on the side of thevehicle body 801. The sliding door 802 is slidably guided in thefore-and-aft direction of the vehicle body 801 along the rail 803 toopen/close an opening 801 a on the side of the vehicle body 801. In FIG.14, the sliding door 802 is closed.

The vehicle body 801 and the sliding door 802 are provided with a fullclosure latch unit configured to bring the sliding door 802 intoengagement with the vehicle body 801 so as to open/close the opening 801a. FIG. 15 is an illustration of the full closure latch unit viewed fromthe front of the vehicle body, and FIGS. 16A to 16C are conceptual viewsof operation of the full closure latch unit.

As shown in FIG. 15, the full closure latch unit has a latch mechanismunit 804 disposed at the sliding door 802. The latch mechanism unit 804on one hand keeps the sliding door 802 closed by meshing with a strikerS provided at the vehicle body 801. The latch mechanism unit 804 on theother hand permits the sliding door 802 to slide in the openingdirection by releasing the striker S meshed. This latch mechanism unit804 includes a latch 806 and a ratchet 807 in an accommodating unit 805.The accommodating unit 805 has a horizontal notch groove 805 a extendingfrom the interior to the exterior of the vehicle body 801, at anapproximate midpoint of a height of the accommodating unit 805.

The latch 806 is rotatably provided via a latch axis 808 extendingapproximately horizontally along the fore-and-aft direction of thevehicle body 801, at a position higher than the horizontal notch groove805 a of the accommodating unit 805. The latch 806 has a meshing groove806 a, a hook 806 b, a full-latch latching portion 806 c, and ahalf-latch latching portion 806 d along a circumference of the latch806.

The meshing groove 806 a is formed from an outer peripheral surface ofthe latch 806 toward the latch axis 808 and has a width which canaccommodate the striker S. The hook 806 b is a part located closer tothe interior of the vehicle body 801 than the meshing groove 806 a whenthe meshing groove 806 a is opened downward. The full-latch latchingportion 806 c is located closer to the exterior of the vehicle body 801than the meshing groove 806 a when the meshing groove 806 a is openeddownward. The half-latch latching portion 806 d is located toward theexterior and diagonally downward when the meshing groove 806 a is openeddiagonally downward toward the interior of the vehicle body 801.

The latch 806 is always applied with a force in the clockwise directionin FIG. 15 by a member such as a spring member (not shown).

The latch axis 808 has a latch detector 809. The latch detector 809detects a position of the latch 806 based on rotation of the latch axis808 due to rotation of the latch 806.

The ratchet 807 is rotatably provided at a position lower than thehorizontal notch groove 805 a of the accommodating unit 805 so that theratchet 807 can rotate via a ratchet axis 810 extending approximatelyhorizontally along the fore-and-aft direction of the vehicle body 801.The ratchet 807 has an engaging portion 807 a and a power action unit807 b along a circumference of the ratchet 807.

The engaging portion 807 a extends in the radial direction from theratchet axis 810 toward the exterior of the vehicle body 801. When theratchet 807 is rotated in the clockwise direction in FIG. 15, theengaging portion 807 a can engage with the full-latch latching portion806 c and the half-latch latching portion 806 d of the latch 806described above via a projecting end surface of the engaging portion 807a. The power action unit 807 b extends in the radial direction towardthe exterior of the vehicle body 801 from the ratchet axis 810.

The above ratchet 807 is always applied with a force in thecounterclockwise direction in FIG. 15 by a member such as a springmember (not shown).

The ratchet 807 is linked with an outside handle 802 a disposed on theexterior side of the sliding door 802 or an inside handle disposed onthe interior side of the sliding door 802, and rotates in the clockwisedirection against the force applied by the spring member by an operationthrough the handle. The configuration for linking the outside handle 802a and the inside handle with the ratchet 807 is the same as thatpreviously described, and so the explanation will be omitted.

In the latch mechanism unit 804, the latch 806 rotates in the clockwisedirection by the force as shown in FIG. 16A when the sliding door 802 isopened in relation to the vehicle body 801. In this case, an unlatchedstate is established in which the hook 806 b releases the horizontalnotch groove 805 a so as to allow the striker S to advance/retract (beremoved) to/from the horizontal notch groove 805 a. If the sliding door802 is operated to close from the unlatched state, the striker Sprovided at the vehicle body 801 enters the horizontal notch groove 805a, so that the striker S abuts on the full-latch latching portion 806 c.As a result, the latch 806 rotates in the counterclockwise directionagainst the clockwise force while the ratchet 807 rotates about theaxial center of the ratchet axis 810 according to the shape of the outerperipheral surface of the latch 806 as the projecting end surface of theengaging portion 807 a slides in contact with the outer peripheralsurface of the latch 806.

When the sliding door 802 is further operated to close from the state asdescribed above, the striker S enters further into the horizontal notchgroove 805 a gradually to cause the latch 806 to further rotate in thecounterclockwise direction, and then the engaging portion 807 a of theratchet 807 reaches to the half-latch latching portion 806 d of thelatch 806 as shown in FIG. 16B. In this state, since the half-latchlatching portion 806 d is abutted on the engaging portion 807 a,rotation in the clockwise rotation of the latch 806 by the force isinhibited. In addition, since the hook 806 b of the latch 806 isarranged to traverse the horizontal notch groove 805 a, the striker S isprevented from moving in the direction of leaving the horizontal notchgroove 805 a, or the sliding door 802 is prevented from opening inrelation to the vehicle body 801 by the hook 806 b. As a result, thesliding door 802 is latched to the vehicle body 801 and kept in ahalf-door state (half latch position).

When the sliding door 802 is further operated to close from theaforementioned half-latch state, the latch 806 is rotated further in thecounterclockwise direction via the full-latch latching portion 806 c bythe striker S entering the horizontal notch groove 805 a, and thestriker S reaches the end (the exterior side of the vehicle body) of thehorizontal notch groove 805 a. During this motion, the outer peripheralsurface connecting the half-latch latching portion 806 d and thefull-latch latching portion 806 c of the latch 806 slides in contactwith a top surface of the engaging portion 807 a so that the ratchet 807is rotated in the clockwise direction in FIG. 16 against the force andbegins to rotate in the counterclockwise direction immediately after thefull-latch latching portion 806 c of the latch 806 has passed theratchet 807. As a result, as shown in FIG. 16C, since the full-latchlatching portion 806 c of the latch 806 comes into abutment with theengaging portion 807 a of the ratchet 807, clockwise rotation of thelatch 806 by the force is prevented. In this state, since the hook 806 bis arranged so as to traverse the horizontal notch groove 805 a, thestriker S is prevented from moving in the direction of leaving the endof the horizontal notch groove 805 a by the hook 806 b, so that thesliding door 802 is latched to the vehicle body 801 and kept in a fullclosed state (full latch position). In the fourth embodiment, a term“closed state” includes the “half-door state” in which the latchmechanism unit 804 is at the half latch position and the “full closedstate” in which the latch mechanism unit 804 is at the full latchposition.

At the full latch position or the half latch position, when the outsidehandle 802 a or the inside handle (not shown) is operated, the ratchet807 rotates in the clockwise direction in FIG. 16 against the force. Asa result, the full-latch latching portion 806 c (or the half-latchlatching portion 806 d) of the latch 806 is released from abuttingengagement with the engaging portion 807 a of the ratchet 807, and thelatch 806 is rotated in the clockwise direction in FIG. 16 by the force.As a result, as shown in FIG. 16A, the horizontal notch groove 805 a isreleased so as to allow the striker S to move in the direction ofleaving the horizontal notch groove 805 a, so that the sliding door 802is ready to be operated to open in relation to the vehicle body 801.

The unlatched state, full latch position, or half latch position asdescribed above is detected by the latch detector 809 serving as a doordetector provided at the latch axis 808.

As shown in FIG. 15, the accommodating unit 805 accommodating the latchmechanism unit 804 is provided with a door releasing mechanism 812serving as a latch releasing unit of the full closure latch unit. Thedoor releasing mechanism 812 has a motor 813, an idling gear 814, afirst transmission gear 815, a second transmission gear 816, a sectorgear 817, a lever shaft 818, and a releasing lever 819.

The motor 813 is configured so that an output axis 813 a is rotatable inboth the clockwise and counterclockwise directions in FIG. 15. To theoutput axis 813 a a driving gear 813 b is attached.

The idling gear 814 is rotatably attached to the accommodating unit 805.The idling gear 814 has a large-diameter gear wheel 814 a configured tomesh with a driving gear 813 b of the motor 813 and a small-diametergear wheel 814 b, which are formed coaxially and may be unitary.

The first transmission gear 815 is rotatably attached to theaccommodating unit 805. The first transmission gear 815 has a toothedoutline configured to mesh with the small-diameter gear wheel 814 b ofthe idling gear 814. The first transmission gear 815 has a recess 815 aat a center portion of the first transmission gear 815.

The second transmission gear 816 has a flange 816 a that fits in therecess 815 a of the first transmission gear 815, and is attachedcoaxially to the first transmission gear 815. The second transmissiongear 816 includes a fan-shaped projection 816 b extending in the radialdirection with respect to the axis of the second transmission gear 816and a gear 816 c at the projection 816 b.

The sector gear 817 is rotatably attached to the accommodating unit 805by the lever shaft 818. The sector gear 817 includes a gear 817 a thatmeshes with the gear 816 c of the second transmission gear 816.

The releasing lever 819 is rotatably attached to the accommodating unit805 by the lever shaft 818. The releasing lever 819 is configured to beengageable with the power action unit 807 b of the ratchet 807.

According to the above door releasing mechanism 812, the power generatedby the motor 813 is transmitted sequentially to the driving gear 813 b,the idling gear 814, the first transmission gear 815, the secondtransmission gear 816, the sector gear 817, the lever shaft 818, and thereleasing lever 819. The releasing lever 819 is then swung in thecounterclockwise direction in FIG. 15. When the releasing lever 819swings in the counterclockwise direction in FIG. 15, the ratchet 807swings in the clockwise direction in FIG. 15 to cancel the engagementbetween the ratchet 807 and the latch 806 at the full latch position andthe half latch position. In this manner, the door releasing mechanism812 rotates the ratchet 807 by the power of the motor 813 to bring thelatch 806 into the unlatched state. In other words, the door releasingmechanism 812 permits the sliding door 802 to slide in the openingdirection.

As shown in FIG. 14, the sliding door 802 is provided with a window hole821. The window hole 821 allows opening/closing of a window hole opening821 a provided in the sliding door 802. Opening/closing of the windowhole 821 is achieved by a regulator 822. In the fourth embodiment, apower window regulator of an X-arm type is used as the regulator 822 asan example. In this case, the regulator 822 drives the lifting arm 822 bto be swung with an arm driving unit 822 a having a motor or the like. Aswinging end of the lifting arm 822 b is movably engaged along alongitudinal supporting member 822 c fixed to a lower end portion of thewindow hole 821. The lifting arm 822 b has a pair of movable arms 822 dat a midway portion of the lifting arm 822 b. A proximal end of one ofthe movable arms 822 d is supported at a first position by the liftingarm 822 b and a distal end of the movable arm 822 d is movably engagedalong the longitudinal supporting member 822 c. A proximal end ofanother one of the movable arms 822 d is supported coaxially withrespect to the first position, and a distal end of the another one ofthe movable arms 822 d is movably engaged with a supporting member 822 efixed approximately in parallel with the supporting member 822 c to thesliding door 802. That is, for opening the window hole 821, theregulator 822 drives the arm driving unit 822 a to cause the lifting arm822 b and the respective movable arms 822 d to displace the supportingmember 822 c downward in relation to the supporting member 822 e. Forclosing the window hole 821, the regulator 822 drives the arm drivingunit 822 a to cause the lifting arm 822 b and the respective movablearms 822 d to displace the supporting member 822 c upward in relation tothe supporting member 822 e.

The above regulator 822 may be of a type configured to be able tomanually drive the arm driving unit 822 a.

The fact that the window hole 821 is opened by the regulator 822 may bedetected by a window hole detector 823. The window hole detector 823 maybe of any type, such as a type configured to detect moving down of thewindow hole 821 or a type configured to detect downward driving of theregulator 822. The window hole detector 823 may detect that the windowhole 821 is open according to an operation of an opening switch of apower window, if the regulator 822 is of an automatic power window.

Next, control for preventing closing of the window hole 821 that hasbeen opened by the regulator 822 from being forgotten is explained.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram of a controller that prevents the closing ofthe window hole from being forgotten. A controller 825 includes aprocessor (such as a CPU), a RAM for storing input data, and a ROM forstoring control procedure. To the controller 825, the latch detector809, the window hole detector 823, the door releasing mechanism 812, anda notifying unit 826 are connected. In the fourth embodiment, the latchdetector 809 detects the operational state of the full closure latchunit only from the position of the latch 806. However the operationalstate of the full closure latch unit may be detected from the positionof the ratchet 807.

The controller 825 receives a detection signal from the latch detector809 having detected the position of the latch 806 in the latch mechanismunit 804 (the unlatched state, half latch position, and full latchposition). Also the controller 825 receives a detection signal from thewindow hole detector 823 having detected that the window hole 821 isopened by the regulator 822. The controller 825 outputs a driving signalfor rotating the ratchet 807 of the latch mechanism unit 804 to the doorreleasing mechanism 812. The controller 825 then outputs a drivingsignal to the notifying unit 826 for notifying a user/passenger with asound, light, or the like.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart of control for preventing closing of the windowhole from being forgotten. First, when the window hole 821 is detectedto be open (step S301: Yes) and the sliding door 802 is detected to beopen (step S302: Yes), these two results of detection are stored. Whenthe sliding door 802 is placed in the closed state (step S303: Yes), thedoor releasing mechanism 812 is activated to close the door, so that thelatch 806 is brought into the unlatched state and the closed state ofthe sliding door 802 is cancelled, the notifying unit 826 notifies theuser (step S304), and the control is ended.

In step S302, the opened state of the sliding door 802 can be determinedby detecting the unlatch state with the latch detector 809 serving asthe door detector. In step S303, the closing operation of the slidingdoor 802 can be determined by detecting the half latch position or thefull latch position with the latch detector 809 serving as the doordetector. Step S301 may be performed after step S302 instead. If thewindow hole 821 is closed after ending the control, the sliding door 802can be closed.

When the window hole 821 is open (step S301: Yes) and the sliding door802 is open (step S302: Yes), instead of proceeding to step S303, thecontroller 825 may activate the door releasing mechanism 812 so as toopen the sliding door 802, notify the user (step S304), and end thecontrol.

The vehicle door apparatus may have in the full closure latch unit anauto-closer function that drives the latch 806 to the full latchposition upon detection of the half latch position by the latch detector809, for closing the sliding door 802. Such an auto-closer function iscancelled so as not to be activated when the window hole 821 and thesliding door 802 are open (after steps S301 and S302).

As described above, the vehicle door apparatus has a door closurepreventing unit configured to prevent the sliding door 802 from beingclosed. This door closure preventing unit includes the window holedetector 823 that detects the open state of the window hole 821, thedoor detector (the latch detector 809) that detects the open state ofthe sliding door 802, the full closure latch unit (the latch mechanismunit 804 and the door releasing mechanism 812), and the controller thatactivates the full closure latch unit so as to open the door based ondetection signals input from the window hole detector and the doordetector. Accordingly, when the sliding door 802 is open while thewindow hole 821 is also open, the door closure preventing unit activatesthe full closure latch unit to open the door, so as to prevent thesliding door 802 from being closed. As a result, the passenger is ableto recognize that he/she has forgetten to close the window hole 821, andthe passenger is prevented from leaving the vehicle with the window hole821 open.

Further, the notifying unit 826 notifies the passenger so as to allowthe passenger to recognize clearly that the passenger has forgotten toclose the window hole 821.

The fourth embodiment has been described with the door closurepreventing unit which prevents the sliding door 802 from being closedusing the door releasing mechanism 812 when the sliding door 802 and thewindow hole 821 are open. However, the door closure preventing unit maybe of a type, which prevents the sliding door 802 from being closedwithout using the door releasing mechanism 812.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 19, the latch mechanism unit 804 maybe provided with a restricting rod 830 configured to abut on the latch806 in the unlatched state so as to disable the latch 806 in theunlatched state to rotate to the half latch position and full latchposition. The restricting rod 830 is able to move to/from the latch 806via a link mechanism, an actuator, or the like (not shown). When thewindow hole detector 823 determines that the window hole 821 is open andthe latch detector 809 determines that the sliding door 802 is open, therestricting rod 830 is advanced toward the latch 806 (from the positionindicated by the dashed dotted line to the position indicated by thesolid line) in FIG. 19 so as to restrict counterclockwise rotation ofthe latch 806 and keep the latch mechanism unit 804 in the unlatchedstate.

The rail 803 may have a restricting member 831 that abuts on the slidingdoor 802 as shown in FIG. 14 so that the sliding door 802 open is notclosed. The restricting member 831 is able to advance/retract to/fromthe rail 803 via a link mechanism or an actuator (not shown). When thewindow hole detector 823 detects that the window hole 821 is open andthe latch detector 809 detects the sliding door 802 is open, therestricting member 831 is caused to advance into the rail 803 torestrict the sliding door 802 from closing, such that the latchmechanism unit 804 is kept in the unlatched state.

According to the vehicle door apparatus, it is possible to prevent thesliding door 802 from being closed when the sliding door 802 is open andthe window hole 821 is open, so that the passenger is able to recognizethat she/he has forgotten to close the window hole 821 and the passengeris prevented from closing the door with the window hole open.

In the fourth embodiment, the latch detector 809 determines the slidingdoor 802 to be open by detecting the unlatched state, but this may bedetermined by ON/OFF of a switch or the like serving as the doordetector that directly detects opening of the sliding door 802.

Further, the embodiment is not limited to be utilized in the slidingdoor 802, but may be also applied to any other door having anopenable/closable window hole such as a side door that opens via ahinge, or a back door of hatchback vehicle body, so as to prevent thepassenger from forgetting to close the window hole.

Although the invention has been described with respect to a specificembodiment for a complete and clear disclosure, the appended claims arenot to be thus limited but are to be construed as embodying allmodifications and alternative constructions that may occur to oneskilled in the art which fairly fall within the basic teaching hereinset forth.

1. A sliding door apparatus comprising: a sliding door having a windowhole and configured to be slidable with respect to a vehicle body; anopening/closing member configured to open and close the window hole; awindow hole openness detector configured to detect a position of theopening/closing member relative to the window hole so as to determine anopenness of the window hole; a door position detector configured todetect a position of the sliding door relative to the vehicle body; anda slide restricting unit configured to be activated to project from oneto another one of the vehicle body and the sliding door, so as to abuton the another one such that the sliding door is stopped from sliding ina direction toward which the sliding door is opened relatively to thevehicle body, when the openness determined by the window hole opennessdetector is greater than a threshold, and the position of the slidingdoor is detected to be between a full-closed position and a midwayposition.
 2. A sliding door apparatus comprising: a sliding doorconfigured to be slidable with respect to a vehicle body; a door speeddetector configured to detect a speed of the sliding door at least whenthe sliding door slides in a direction toward which the sliding door isopened; and a braking unit configured to brake down the sliding doorwhen the speed detected is greater than a threshold.
 3. The sliding doorapparatus according to claim 2, further comprising: a door positiondetector configured to detect a position of the sliding door relative tothe vehicle body; and a slide restricting unit configured to beactivated to project from one to another one of the vehicle body and thesliding door, so as to abut on the another one such that the slidingdoor is stopped from sliding in a direction toward which the slidingdoor is opened relatively to the vehicle body, when the sliding door islocated between a full-closed position and a midway position, whereinthe braking unit is configured to brake down the sliding door after theslide restricting unit is activated but before the sliding door isstopped from sliding by the slide restricting unit.